shattered truth
by Berrycloud12catface
Summary: A physically scarred medicine cat apprentice, a regretful messenger, a long-dead cat with an unjust punishment, an apprentice battling against both their destinies and a prophecy, predicting the end of the clans, for good.
1. Prologue

**Hi! This is actually my second attempt at writing this fanfic, cos my first attempt was kinda bad. Anyway,** **I hope you like it!**

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The night sky gleamed with stars, Moonlight streamed through the pines and outlined the dark tom striding between the trees. His blazing blue eyes flashed as his gaze flicked from shadow to shadow, watching for unwanted attention. The sound of rushing water reached his ears and he paused momentarily. he shook himself and paddded on, faster then before. through the trees he saw a wide stream, trickiling merrily into the distance. his dark pelt rippled as he bunched his muscles and launched himself across the stream. his paws had barley touched the ground before he raced forward. he leaped over a fallen tree, and swerved out of the path of a wide pine, straining for greater speed, before finaly comeing to a stop in a small clearing. in the middle, a huge oak sat, pround and solid. he stood, just inside the shadows cast by the trees, as though afraid to move towards the oak. he took a shuddering breath and stepped forward. he padded up to the oak, and sat down at its roots. he looked up at the tree, and his eyes burned with grief.

"it didnt have too happen." he mewed softly, to himself. "she didnt have too die."

he sat, quite still, as he continued to stare at the oak.

a sharp _Snap!_ broke the silence, as a younger, whight tom padded into the clearing, accidentally stepping on a stick.

"Why did you ask to meet me here, Pinefoot?" the whight tom asked. the dark tom tilted his head, studying the younger cat, critically.

"good evening, Cloudclaw." he mewed, and turned back to the oak. Cloudclaw glared at him.

"what do you want?" he asked, again. Pinefoot ignored him.

"what is so important, you had to arange for a dark forest warrior to come into the heart of your teritory?" this made Pinefoot snarl.

"this is not my teritory,or my clan, not after what they did to Mintheart!" he hissed. Cloudclaw smirked, as though he enjoyed Pinefoot's reaction.

"well, what am i here for? you weren't very... _informative_ when you asked to meet me." Pinefoot glared at him.

"He's very impatient, isn't he?" he murmured to himself, eyes fixed on a branch above his head. He shook himself and turned back to Cloudclaw.

"this tree was where they killed her." he mewed, bluntly. Cloudclaw's tail twitched.

"that explains everything." he mewed sarcastically. Pinefoot twitched as though he desired nothing more then to lunge at Cloudclaw.

"I want revenge for Mintheart's death," he hissed. "and I think you can help me." Cloudclaw narrowed his eyes.

"whats in it for me?" he mewed. Pinefoot snorted, as though Cloudclaw had asked something obvious.

" _Y_ _ou_ also want revenge...On the clans, on starclan, on the warrior code. And I know exactly how to get it, but I need your help."

"I'm listening..." Pinefoot shook his head. "not here, mouse brain, we could be overheard."

"I need to know your plan before i make any promises." Cloudclaw mewed, firmly. Pinefoot growled.

"Fine. meet me at the edge of the dark forest, by the flat-rocks, at half-moon. I'll tell you then." Cloudclaw nodded, satisfied. Pinefoot up at the sky, surpressed anger and grief in his eyes. His gaze raked the sky, as though searching for one star amongst all the others. "You should go back to the dark forest, Cloudclaw." he mewed without taking his eyes of the stars. The whight tom flicked his tail, stood up and started to pad away, calling over his shoulder as he went;

"So long, Pinefoot. I'll see you in a quarter moon." and he was gone, leaving Pinefoot to stare quietly up at the star covered sky.

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 **So, there it is... I hope you liked it! I'd love to hear what you guys thought of it, So please review! I need OC's for the other clans so if you have any suggestions, I'd like to hear them. Thank you for reading!**


	2. Chapter 1 apprentices

Beekit pov

"Let all cats old enough to catch there own prey, gather beneath Tallrock for a clan meeting!" Lightningstar's call rang out through the Windclan camp. Beekit poked his head out of the nursery, eyes flicking towards Lightningstar and back inside, where his sister was still curled in their nest twitching from some unknown dream.

"Hey, Fernkit, wake up! Your gonna miss the gathering." he meowed padding to her side and prodding her with his paw. She stirred, and sat up.

"Mphh, I'm up! I'm up!" she slurred sleepily, blinking rapidly.

"Come on." Beekit meowed, turning and racing out of the den. A dazed-looking Fernkit followed closely. The two bounded up to the base of Tallrock, where the rest of Windclan was already starting to gather. Lightningstar sat on Tallrock, watching the clan gathering.

"what's going on?" Fernkit asked as Beekit rasped his tongue over her ear and face, flattening her ruffled fur.

"Get _off,_ Beekit!" Fernkit yowled, batting at him. Beekit, unphased, started grooming her side.

"stop squirming!do you want to look like you just wrestled with a gorse bush on you apprentice ceremony?" Beekit growled. a soft purring alerted him of another cat behind him. He turned his head and saw his mother, Blueheart, watching him, smiling. she padded to his side and began licking him.

"The same goes for you." she purred, smiling proudly. Beekit heald absolutely still as his mother groomed him.

"Beekit, step forward." Beekit stepped forward, chest puffed out proudly. it took all of his self-restraint to not bound forward.

"Beekit, you have reached the age of six moons and it is time you were apprenticed." Lightningstar gazed down at him and smiled. "From this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you shall be known as Beepaw." here he paused so the clan could greet Beepaw's new name.

"Beepaw! Beepaw!"

"Beepaw!"

"your mentor shall be Silverdust." Beepaw looked around, pleased and surprised to be made the apprentice of the deputy. his gaze fell on her. The silver tabby looked pleased, but not altogether surprised, as she padded forward.

"Silverdust, you taught Redbush well, and have proved to be wise and loyal, I trust you will pass all you know down to Beepaw." Silverdust dipped her head and touched her nose to Beepaw's. Beepaw grinned up at his new mentor, who smiled back.

"Do you want to go for a tour now or watch Fernkit's ceremony?" she murmured. "I want to watch," he said. Silverdust smiled and nodded.

"Fernkit, come forward," Lightningstar said. Fernkit limped forward nervously. involuntarily, Beepaw's gaze flickered down to her twisted foot. Fernkit had been born with a disfigured front right paw so that it twisted sideways and up. that leg was also slightly shorter than her other three, so she always limped.

"Fernkit, you have also reached six moons of age, and are ready to become an apprentice." Here, Lightningstar's eye's flicked towards her twisted paw, and away. "from this day on until you receive your medicine cat name, you shall be known as Fernpaw."

confusion spread slowly across Fernpaw's face, as the clan called her new name, none louder than Beepaw.

"Fernpaw! Fernpaw!"

"Fernpaw!"

Beepaw looked around and noticed that not every cat was cheering, or even looking particularly happy. _I wonder why not._ he thought, frowning.

"Your mentor shall be Mintfur." Beepaw watched as his sisters face morphed into a look of shocked horror. "Mintfur, you have proved to have great skill and knowledge. And I trust you will pass those traits down to Fernpaw." Lightningstar's finished.

"Fernpaw, Beepaw!"

"Fernpaw! Beepaw!"

The clan cheered, and Again, Beepaw noticed that certain warriors stayed silent. Silverdust nudged him.

"do you want to go now?" she asked. Beepaw took a deep breath, tore his eyes of Fernpaw's stricken expression, and nodded.

 _ **...**_

Fernpaw pov

A storm of emotions battled inside of her, as she watched Beepaw's tail-tip disappear through the camp entrance; Jealousy of Beepaw, shame for wishing they could switch places, anger directed at her _stupid_ twisted foot and her _stupid_ leader, Sadness that her dream of becoming a warrior was no longer possible and denial, screaming at her to _demand_ a rank change.

"Come with me Fernpaw." Mintfur's voice cut through her stupor. Fernpaw turned to see her mentor padding towards the medicine cat den. She was about to enter after her when Thrushkit stopped her. The shy she-cat shuffled her paws awkwardly.

"what?" Fernpaw snapped, irritated. Thrushkit's eyes widened and she murmured;

"sorry, I just wanted to congratulate you on becoming an apprentice." Fernpaw snorted.

"S'not that great, I mean, I'm a _medicine cat_ apprentice. I besides, every kit becomes an apprentice one day, you'll probably be made one next moon." she mewed, putting as much venom in the word medicine cat as possible. Thrushkit flinched.

"Fernpaw, get in here." Mintfur meowed sharply. Fernpaw scooted around Thrushkit, muttering a quick "Bye." and ducked into the den. it was cool and shaded in the den, the floor was soft dirt and there where small crevices in the rock walls, with bundles of herbs, tucked into them. a large pile of moss was stacked in a corner and a small pool of water next to them. Mintfur was sitting in front of a line of different herbs.

"come closer, Fernpaw, I'm going to show you some of the most common herbs, and then you and I are going to go herb gathering," Mintfur said brightly. "and I want to be back in time to sort through them and show you how to refill and empty the water pool," she said, gesturing to the shallow pool.

"this is marigold, it's mostly used to stop infection and bleeding, and this is Dock, which helps soothe scratches and sore pads..." this went on for some time, with Fernpaw's attention coming in and out of focus. finally, after what felt like moons and moons, Mintfur was leading her out of camp and across the moor. Fernppaw was awed at how big and cool Windclan territory was and kept looked around excitedly, asking questions like;

"what's that?"

"how did that get there?"

"are we _still_ in Windclan territory?"

"is that a fox den?" this seemed to irritate Mintfur, for some reason, and she gave the shortest possible answers.

"A sheep."

"Twolegs."

"Yes."

"No."

"what's that smell?" Fernpaw asked suddenly, raising her head and tilting it in the direction of the said smell. Mintfur sighed in exasperation and parted her jaws to let the scent bathe her tongue. she stiffened.

"That, my apprentice, _is_ a fox. remember it, it may come in handy one day," she said, matter-of-factly, turning and striding back in the direction of camp.

"aren't we going to do something?" Fernpaw demanded, catching up with her mentor long strides.

"we are. we're going to tell Lightningstar," she said. Fernpaw grumbled inaudibly.

 _ **...**_

"what did the fox look like?" Thrushkit's awed voice made Fernpaw smile.

"We didn't actually see it," Fernpaw admitted. Thrushkit's two siblings, Stonekit and Heronkit, aww-ed in disappointment. they were sitting in camp, listening to Fernpaw tell them about outside camp and there near encounter with a fox, with rapt attention. it made her smirk.

Fernpaw glanced over to where Mintfur, Lightningstar, and Jaysong where deep in conversation. she strained her ears to catch part of it but they were to quiet. she looked back at the younger cats as her stomach rumbled.

"Do you guys want to share some fresh kill?" Fernpaw suggested. "Sure!" Thrushkit mewed enthusiastically. They all padded up to the fresh-kill pile, picked out a small rabbit, and dragged it to a secluded corner of the camp. Fernpaw forced herself not to scoff it down in three bites, after their treck across Windclan and waited until the three kits had had a few mouthfuls before taking her share. she looked up as a familiar smell touched her nose, and saw Beepaw stride into the camp, dragging a huge rabbit, followed closely by Silverdust. Both their expressions displayed pride. Beepaw dropped the rabbit on the fresh-kill pile, making it look considerably larger, looked around, spotted Fernpaw, grinned, murmured something to Silverdust, who nodded. her brother bounded over, settling down beside Fernpaw.

"why where you carrying Silverdust's prey, Beepaw?" Heronkit teased, a twinkle in his eyes. Beepaw laughed.

"What, that monster? that's not a piece of prey, that's a badger!" he said enthusiastically, playing along. "and I was the one who caught it." he added. as though it was an afterthought. Stonekit snorted, but Heronkit maintained a serious expression.

"how did you see the 'badger' with such a bi-" Heronkit's sentence was interrupted by a loud yowling coming from outside camp, and one of the patrol's Silverdust had sent out earlier burst into camp, blood staining their fur, and several of them supporting Redbush, who had a large slash along his stomach.

"Get Mintfur!" one of the cats supporting Redbush, Halfclaw, yowled. Mintfur leaped forward.

"bring him into my den,"she meowed, and glanced over her shoulder, "Fernpaw, come with me." Fernpaw's stomach lurched and she stood up and padded quickly after her mentor. as she entered the medicine cat den, she heard Lightningstar ask the remaining patrol; "what happened?"

"Thunderclan! They moved the border!" Greytail panted.


End file.
